Return from the Ashes

CinemaSerf

Maximilian Schell is good in this as the pretty odious "Pilgrin". He is an intellectual philanderer whom, upon the Nazi invasion of Poland, marries the wealthy Jewish "Mischa" (Ingrid Thulin). She is incarcerated in a concentration camp, presumed dead, but after the war meets her husband again only to discover that has taken up with her step-daughter Samantha Eggar ("Fabienne") and that he will stop at very little to get hold of what is left of her fortune. It's odd to see a film about Nazis and their horrendous treatment of the Jews and for that not to be the most toxic element of a film. That accolade must go to Schell, and to the really unlikeable Eggar - a pair who really do rather deserve each there. The film is just too long, there are too many sagging points and the score from jazz legend John Dankworth drags it down, too; but it does have a decent story, is well produced and the acting is effective too.